Weekly News Roundup

A large fire destroyed a home at Mount Beppo, west of Brisbane, on Thursday afternoon, Queensland fire authorities say.

Twenty-five crews, including waterbombers, worked to control the fast-moving blaze that travelled east from Mount Beppo near the Brisbane Valley Highway towards the Somerset Dam region.

Toogoolawah resident Graeme Kuhn said the plume of smoke from the area was at least 30 metres high.

“I can see a big smoke ring, there seems to be two fires, but the big one started out to the west of Toogoolawah,” Mr Kuhn said.

“It’s been going since just after lunch I’d say — I came in from Kilcoy and I saw the smoke and the next minute it was really intense.

“There’s mostly farmhouses down there, many 40-acre blocks.”

Meanwhile, firefighters are working to control a large blaze in the Herberton and Watsonville area, south-west of Cairns in far north Queensland.

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman says crews worked throughout the night to battle the fire, with more firefighters heading to the scene this morning.

Residents have been told to prepare to leave if the situation worsens.

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Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital will be renamed the Queensland Children’s Hospital in a move that could cost taxpayers $500,000.

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles will formally announce the new name this morning, two months after the Government said it would consult with the public about rebranding the state’s leading paediatric hospital.

Mr Miles told ABC Radio Brisbane the bulk of the cost would be made up of changing the large signage on the building’s exterior.

The money will not be drawn from the Queensland Health budget and will instead come from the Department of Housing and Public Works.

The State Government has confirmed the cost of changing the signs could be up to $500,000, but the money will not be drawn from the Queensland Health budget.

Instead, the money will come from the Department of Housing and Public Works.

The facility was named after medical pioneer and author Lady Phyllis Cilento when it was opened by the former LNP Government in 2014.

Hospital staff recently petitioned the Government calling for a name change, arguing there was confusion among the public over whether the facility was public or private.

The Children’s Hospital Foundation also argued a conventional name would secure more money for medical research from overseas philanthropic and charitable donors.

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Drum lines will be set after two tourists were critically injured in separate attacks at a harbour in the Whitsunday Islands in north Queensland, reports the ABC and AAP.

A 12-year-old New Zealand girl holidaying with her father and sister received a life-threatening wound to her leg on Thursday afternoon at Cid Harbour.

The attack came less than 24 hours after Tasmanian woman Justine Barwick, 46, was also bitten on her left thigh while snorkelling in the same harbour.

The child was in a critical condition at Mackay Base Hospital but it’s understood she will be transported to Brisbane for further treatment.

Ms Barwick was taken to Brisbane on Thursday and her condition has since been upgraded to stable in intensive care at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Fisheries Queensland will set three baited drum lines in the harbour on Friday in a bid to catch the shark or sharks responsible.

“It is possible that there’s more than one shark involved in these unfortunate events,” the department’s shark control program manager Jeff Krause told the ABC.

“We don’t normally go out and search for any sharks that may have been involved in a shark attack but due to the nature of these multiple attacks, Fisheries Queensland is going to deploy three drum lines in a bid to try and catch some of the sharks in that area.”

Mr Krause said various types of whaler species as well as bull and tiger sharks can be found in waters around the harbour and he advised against swimming in or near Cid Harbour for the time being.

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